BOOSTED by a balanced attack, the Bacoor City Strikers made short work of the also-ran 1Bataan Risers-Camaya Coast 93-65 last Tuesday night and wound up as the No. 1 seed in the South Division of the MPBL (Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League) Fifth Season at the Marikina Sports Center.
Big man Mark Montuano showed the way for the Strikers of coach Alex Angeles and team manager Dennis Abella with 12 points and four rebounds, while Jhan Nermal chipped in 11 markers, three boards, and two assists.
Alwyn Alday also had 10 and two as Bacoor finished the eliminations with a 23-5 mark and with homecourt edge in their best-of-3 quarterfinals duel with Iloilo beginning in Game 1 this Saturday at the Strike Gym.
“Happy kaming lahat sa performance ng team kasi ito iyong lagi naming pinagu-usapan na kung ano gagawin namin dito papunta sa playoffs,” Angeles, a former San Beda University star in the NCAA, said.
“Iyong performance namin, especially on defense, pati iyong box outs at ibang mga little things, talagang ginamot namin kaya lahat kami dito masaya kapag naglaro na kami sa playoffs,” he added.
The Strikers led by as much as 29 points against the listless Risers, who ended their campaign with a 13-15 slate.
Robbi Darang and Jasper Longalong paced Bataan with 16 points each, while Dante Paguio got 10.
“Ang maganda roon, No. 1 tayo sa South Division pero sabi nga nila, hindi naman madali ang road to No. 1 sa South dahil maraming pinagdaanan. It’s pure hard work sa mga players natin, sa coaching staff at siyempre sa management,” Abella said. “Talagang pinagbutihan natin kasi since 2018, sumali na tayo sa MPBL. Naging experience natin iyon. Siyempre parang pag-aaralan iyon.
“From the beginning wala talaga tayong alam mag-manage ng team hanggang sa sumasali tayo, marami tayong natutunan and this year, pinagpala tayo na makakuha ng magagaling na players at coaching staff.”
